(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of threat assessment and management in a three-dimensional battlefield environment and more specifically to a method and apparatus for assessing selected responses to a threat projectile.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Methods and apparatus for sensing a threat projectile are known, as are methods and apparatus for providing appropriate counter attack measures. The following United States Letters Patent disclose examples of such devices:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,041 (1984) Girard PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,208 (1989) Kosman PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,271 (1992) White PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,366 (1992) Lucas
Girard discloses a method for controlling antiaircraft fire upon detection of a threat airplane or other airborne device. Tracking data and antiaircraft trajectory data are continuously evaluated to determine the probability of a "hit". If the probability of the a hit falls below a predetermined level, the system initiates more fire. The probabilities of the two firings are then evaluated to arrive at a cumulative probability. If the cumulative probability of a "hit" is still below the set point, the system initiates additional antiaircraft fire. The process continues until the specified probability is met.
Kosman discloses an automated method for engaging multiple pursuer missiles with multiple targets. A computer secures tracking data and guidance data as inputs for a probabilistic method. The method enables engaging many individual targets with individual pursuer missiles and precludes the assessment of a plurality of individual pursuer missiles to an individual target.
White discloses a target track assessment scheme for use with multistation tracking of targets. The target track assessment scheme correlates each new track reported by a station with prior reported tracks to determine whether the new reported track corresponds to a new target or a previously reported target. This depends upon the position of the track and the tracking errors in the system.
Lucas discloses a battlefield method for allocating and assigning defensive weapons responsive to a weapons attack. The method includes estimating a threat value for each attack weapon, a threat value to the target and with respect to each defensive weapon, a counter threat value. Combining the threat and counter threat values in a predetermined relationship determines a series of prospective defensive weapons to reduce the effective threat value to the target to at least a predetermined level. The user then selects from the series of prospective defensive weapons to yield a particular counter effect to the attack weapons.
Thus, the foregoing patents describe devices and methods for assessing, tracking, and engaging either or both threat units and threat launch units. These systems attempt to achieve the reduction or minimization of threat to the combat unit or associated target by attacking the actual threat or the source of the threat to reduce future treats.
The prior art also includes an Advanced Weapons Management System (AWMS), a laboratory simulation used by the United States military, in particular the United States Navy. The AWMS acts as a testbed for the evaluation and testing of tactics and performances of various devices. The AWMS provides a computer simulated environment wherein the performance of a combat unit or device is modeled and tested against various threat and target environments. The AWMS quantitatively and graphically provides the results of such testing to provide a basis for assessment of tactical responses of combat units to threat units.
The AWMS system therefore provides an apparatus and method for assessing the maneuvers and counter measures employed by a combat unit against a threat projectile of the type to which this invention relates. The AWMS system is used for the evaluation of combat unit performance, for the purpose of selecting weapons systems and tactics for deployment in particular combat environments and for the purpose of analyzing unitary responses of a combat unit command structure in a simulated environment. However, to obtain statistical measures of effectiveness, AWMS must perform repeated simulations. The outcome of each simulation is completed before the next simulation is initialized. Thus, the AWMS is not designed to operate, and cannot be adapted to operate, in real-time. That is, it can provide neither information to the command structure of a combat. unit regarding the avoidance of a threat projectile nor a real-time simulation of a threat projectile attack on a combat unit that takes into account any defensive tactics employed by a user.
Thus, most of the foregoing references are generally focused on devices for enabling active interception of threat projectiles or sources of such projectiles. Others (e.g., the AWMS) provide a "test bed" for evaluation and analysis of maneuvers and counter measures of a combat unit to a threat projectile for the purpose of selecting appropriate combat units and analyzing tactical responses at a relatively leisurely rate. The references also fail to provide a simulator capable of providing a real-time analysis of tactical maneuvers responsive to a simulated attack by threat projectiles.
In three-dimensional combat environments, such as airborne and submarine warfare environments, evasion of threat projectiles provides a real and often preferred method of response to a threat projectile. In cases where the combat unit is a submarine, the threat projectile is generally a homing torpedo that enters a seek mode for detecting the submarine. Upon detection the torpedo enters a homing mode, travels to the target submarine and detonates. The safety and survival of a submarine and its crew, and thus its mission, depends in large measure on the tactical responses including maneuvers and the deployment of counter measures selected by the crew. If the submarine avoids detection, the submarine will usually survive the attack. Likewise in an airborne unit, such as a fighter aircraft, the corresponding tactical responses employed by the pilot are critical to avoid a threat missile and to survive the attack. In the past, the decisions employed by a crew of such a combat unit primarily have been based upon the crew's training and experience.
The foregoing references fail to provide apparatus for assessing, on a substantially real-time basis, the ability of a combat unit in a three-dimensional combat environment to avoid detection by a threat projectile. That is, these references fail to provide a real-time assessment of the survivability of the combat unit based upon the status of the threat projectile and the status of the combat unit. There is no provision for a tool by which the crew can determine whether a change of tactics is appropriate. The references do not disclose a simulator for providing a real-time assessment of the survivability of a combat unit based upon tactical responses of a command structure of such combat unit to a threat projectile attack. These references also do not disclose a corresponding training platform on which a crew can train to respond to an attack of a threat projectile.